VideoStudio Pro X7 sudden shutdown

[Ashley]

Upgraded from X4 last night, and no joy with this product so far. The primary problem relates to the program simply shutting down, with no error messages of any kind, when asked to load different specific mpg files. The files in question were generated by a Sony digital camera (comment in another thread suggested this might be important). First time problem encountered was when I first tried to load a project file generated by version X4 Pro. I later determined that it was the mpg file itself, when I tried dragging it and dropping it onto the play timeline. When X7 encounters various different mpg video files, it pauses for 5-10 seconds, then shuts down with no messages of any kind. The problem is very reproducible.

Other complaints with this version relate to trying to obtain support. The Corel warranty "contact support" page requests a "Support Code," without which one cannot contact support directly. This is said to have been provided during a registration process. No registration process was offered during install, and no "support code" can be found in the purchase email received from Corel. (In fact, the entire purchase process was problematic, partly due to poor web page design, and let us say, a "lack of appreciation" for their "Cleverbridge" software.)

But again -- the mpg problem is a show stopper for me. Does anyone have any thoughts/recommendations?

[aljimenez]

Since it appears the mpg files load fine in X4, one can conclude X7 has a problem with them. This can of course, happen, but it's nevertheless frustrating for you and anyone else that encounters this problem. Just to explore if we can help, would you post details about the mpg file? You could use program "Mediainfo" which is free and gives details about all video files. Also right-click on the timeline file in X4, and selecting properties gives details, but Mediainfo gives more details... Al

[Ken Berry]

No registration process was offered during install, and no "support code" can be found in the purchase email received from Corel.

Unfortunately, this is something else not properly explained by Corel. The registration process is only raised when you have installed X7 and click on the orange button indicated by the red arrow in the attached image. This opens the 'Do More' screen. But it first gives a message that you can only access its various aspects if you register the program with Corel. If you don't already have an account with Corel for some other program, you are then taken through the process. Once completed, you should receive an email with that support code.

[Ashley]

Finally managed to register the product by poking around on different Corel web pages. I can't remember the exact process, but it is possible! Received an email with a support number, which allowed me to contact Corel tech support. Several small video files demonstrating the problem were emailed to them, as well as the msinfo32.nfo file they requested. Now waiting to hear whether they are able to reproduce the problem. Note that I have VideoStudio Pro X4 installed as well. The mpg files all load properly using X4, but not when using X7. I did verify that other file types on hand (mp4, avi, wmv, at least) load properly.

It was requested that I post info about the mpg files using mediainfo. I've not used this program before, so please forgive me if I've not captured exactly what was wanted. Sample info displayed is below. Note that it's pretty much a crap file that should have been deleted by now (unusable fragment shot at a rural Thai Buddhist temple). Regardless, I selected it for its size, and the file is attached to this post. If you have Pro X7 installed, feel free to save the file locally and try to open it with X7. (edit: seems I cannot attach a file with "mpg" extension, so no file attached. Sorry...)

What else did I leave out last time? System is running Windows XP (I may upgrade someday), which the advertisements all say is supported. Service pack 3, 4Gb memory, Intel E8500 processor running at the stock 3.16 gHz. Display card is Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT. Disk drives are SATA 2Gb Western Digitals, for the most part, and especially the one containing the video files in question. Motherboard is Asus, but I can't recall which one.

General
Complete name : G:\Videos\My Pictures\2012\2012-12-06 - King's Birthday, Doi Tao\MOV00623.MPG
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1.24 MiB
Duration : 3s 600ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 2 883 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 1
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : Variable
Duration : 3s 600ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 2 761 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.360
Time code of first frame : 00:00:00:00
Time code source : Group of pictures header
Stream size : 1.19 MiB (96%)

Audio
ID : 192 (0xC0)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Duration : 3s 600ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 64.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 32.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 28.1 KiB (2%)

[Ashley]

Problem solved. Corel determined that the device drivers I was using for the NVidia GeForce 9600 were out of date. Given that the mpg files loaded properly using Pro X4, I was skeptical that updating the drivers would fix anything. Be that as it may, updating the drivers does, in fact, appear to have corrected the problem. No idea why or how, but...

Problem solved, and I'm happy.

Thanks to you all, and I hope this thread may be of use to others in the future.

[aljimenez]

Great that you solved the issue. Can we get Corel to list drivers version numbers for the most popular video cards? Also Jan's related issue with motherboard built-in cards drivers. Perhaps this info needs to be a sticky in this forum?